Six Sigma Approach to Quality Assurance in Global Supply Chains

Quality assurance practices in the supply chain of American automakers have evolved through decades from quality inspection and quality control to statistical process control and quality auditing. Emergence of quality auditing had been accompanied by the creation of numerous customer specific quality standards. Further, with globalization of the supply chain, quality assurance practices in global supply chains have been taking a new direction from that of inspection and quality control to six sigma continuous quality improvement. This research, present how a six sigma approach to quality management can be used successfully for continuous quality assurance and quality improvement in the global supply chain of United States auto manufacturers for achieving competitiveness in world market place.